‘Dark days’: Writers’ Week staff reject axing as authors leave in droves
Writers’ Week staff have rejected the board’s decision to axe a prominent Palestinian author from its lineup, in an email to authors seen exclusively by InDaily. More than 30 Australian and international writers have declared they are now boycotting the high-profile literary festival.
The board decision to drop Palestinian advocate Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from the Adelaide Writers’ Week lineup was made without the input of Director Louise Adler or the Adelaide Writers’ Week team, and has been criticised in an email to authors from event staff.
More than 30 authors have now pulled out of the high-profile literary festival and an email sent to the Writers’ Week lineup was signed off “best wishes during dark days”.
The email said the controversial board decision “is absolutely not supported by the Writers’ Week team and that our support sits with Dr Abdel-Fattah being a valued participant in Adelaide Writers’ Week”.
Premier Peter Malinauskas yesterday threw his support behind the board’s decision, saying under legislation he was prevented from directing the board, but “when asked for my opinion, I was happy to make it clear that the state government did not support the inclusion of Dr Abdel-Fattah on the Adelaide Writers’ Week program”.
Prominent authors, including international writers Zadie Smith, M. Gessen and Yanis Varoufakis, have joined a list of more than 30 withdrawing their support.
Author and high-profile journalist Peter Greste, a media freedom advocate known for being imprisoned in Egypt for 400 days, has also withdrawn.
“We don’t help social cohesion by silencing voices. I was to appear, but if the Festival sticks with this decision, I’m out,” he said on social media platform X.
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In a letter to the Adelaide Festival board Greste said: “I have read the board’s statement with dismay and concern. Writers’ festivals are grounded in the principles of free and open discussion. They are places for the open exchange of ideas, regardless of how uncomfortable they may appear to some.”
“As a journalist and media freedom activist, I have always argued for the free exchange of ideas however uncomfortable they may be. With that in mind, I am sure you will appreciate that I can no longer take part in the festival while Randa is off the program.”
Others withdrawing in protest include two-time Miles Franklin award winner Michelle de Kretser, Stellar Prize winning poet Evelyn Araluen, Miles Franklin and Walkley award-winning writer Melissa Lucashenko.
Professor Clare Wright, Jane Caro, Hannah Ferguson, Amy Remeikis, Chelsea Watego, Walter Marsh, Dominic Guerrera and Bernadette Brennan are also among those boycotting the festival.
Bri Lee and Hannah Kent both released statements saying they would withdraw unless Adelaide Writers’ Week reverses its decision and allows Abdel-Fattah to participate.
“Adelaide Writers’ Week has always held great personal significance for me as a writer and as a South Australian. I know it to historically be an open and accessible event that welcomes the free exchange of perspectives and ideas, and celebrates our collective humanity,” Kent said in a statement.
“I am appalled by the Adelaide Festival Board’s decision to remove Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from this year’s program. It is a gross act of discrimination and censorship I can in no way agree with, and I will be therefore be withdrawing from this year’s Adelaide Writers’ Week unless Dr Abdel-Fattah’s place in the program is reinstated.”
The author’s boycott of Adelaide Writers’ Week follows a similar case of the 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival, which saw over 50 authors withdraw due to the festival issuing a code of conduct to censor discussions around ongoing genocide in Gaza.
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Abdel-Fattah said in a statement that she was confident she would be backed by the writing community.
“After two years of Israel’s live-streamed genocide of Palestinians, Australian arts and cultural institutions continue to reveal their utter contempt and inhumanity towards Palestinians,” Abdel-Fattah said.
“The only Palestinians they will tolerate are silent and invisible ones.
“I remain confident that the writing community and the broader public will ultimately respond with principle and integrity, as they did when I was singled out in the same racist way during the Bendigo Writers Festival”.
“In the end, the Adelaide Writers Festival will be left with panellists who demonise a Palestinian out of one side of their mouths while waxing lyrical about freedom of speech from the other.”
An Adelaide Festival spokesperson confirmed that though the Writers’ Week program is developed by Writers’ Week staff, the decision to axe Abdel-Fattah was the board’s alone.
“The board has been reviewing its program in recent weeks, leading to these announced decisions,” the spokesperson said.
“The board has received letters of complaint about Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah but will not be publishing this correspondence.”
Group Readers and Writers Against the Genocide said it expects more writers to follow suit in the coming days and members of the public are being asked to boycott the free festival.
Abdel-Fattah was scheduled to appear in one panel to talk about her latest novel, Discipline, in conversation with Richard Buckham.
Local Adelaide booksellers, including Goodwood Books, Matilda Bookshop and Imprints has also shared their support online, spruiking copies of Discipline.
Imprints Booksellers, on Hindley Street, shared that it was currently sold out of Abdel-Fattah’s book Discipline but “of course have more on order”.
“I hope we can all get behind this author, and the others who have already pulled out of AWW in support,” the bookseller posted to Instagram.
*Editor’s Note: The chair of the Adelaide Festival Tracey Whiting AM is also a director of Solstice Media, publisher of InDaily.
